Dissemination - Benefits, risks and costs

Diversity of research work. Microdata files offer researchers more flexibility in terms of identifying relationships and interactions among the phenomena covered in a survey. After conducting a survey, the staffs of the data producing agency normally produce a wide range of tabular output to give users the highlights and a broad overview of the survey results. They can hardly be expected to (nor are they funded to) be able to identify all the research questions that can be addressed using these data. As policy and other researchers start probing deeper in to the social and economic issues to support policy discussions and formulations, they are likely to require more specific information. Having publicly-available microdata files enables the replication of research findings carried out by others and the expansion of the analysis to address questions raised by the previous research. Most data can be “re-purposed”, i.e used for other purposes than the one(s) for which they were collected. Microdata dissemination therefore encourages diversity (and quality) of analysis.

Credibility/acceptability of data. Broader access to microdata demonstrates the producer’s confidence in the data, by making replication (or correction) possible by independent parties.

Reduced duplication. Non accessibility to microdata forces users to conduct their own surveys. Microdata dissemination would reduce the risk of duplicated activities. It will also reduce the burden on respondents, and minimize the risk of inconsistent studies on a same topic.

Harmonization and comparability. By reducing duplicated or competing data collection and allowing all users to access the same data, microdata dissemination reduces inconsistencies in methods and results.

Increased accountability. The development of evidence-based policies and the monitoring of its impact require far more detailed analysis than typically produced by statistical agencies that collect data.

Funding. Better use of data means better return for survey sponsors, who will thus be more inclined to support data collection activities. Increasingly, funding of surveys by international sponsors is subordinated to dissemination of the resulting datasets.

Quality of data. It is often through the use of data that insights for improvement for survey design can be identified. Sharing microdata may create a closer relationship between data producers and knowledgeable data users. The provision of feedback to the data producer can be built into the microdata dissemination process. User feedback will result in survey improvements over time.

Loss of exclusivity. When disseminating microdata, data owners lose their exclusive right to discoveries. This is more of an issue for academic researchers than official producers.

Exposure to criticism. Quality itself often puts a brake on microdata dissemination. Some data producers may fear to be exposed to criticism when data are not fully reliable, and to be confronted to the obligation to defend their results when challenged by secondary users.

Official vs. non-official results, and exposure to contradiction. Dissemination of microdata may lead to a proliferation of differing -and possibly contradictory- results and statistics. It may become more and more difficult to distinguish between official figures and other sources of statistics. When researchers publish data which conflicts with data published by the producer, the producer may have to defend its estimates. This is often an issue when official estimates have been produced by consultants or staff who are no longer available to answer questions. This underlines the importance of documenting all steps of data collection and analysis (to ensure “replicability”), and to provide detailed metadata on sources and methods when disseminating statistics.

Financial cost. Properly documenting and disseminating microdata has a cost. This includes not only the costs of creating and documenting microdata files, but also the costs of creating access tools and safeguards, and of supporting enquiries made by the research community. Wherever possible, such costs should be built into the survey budget. The cost of providing access to microdata is minimal in comparison to the cost of new data collections. Microdata dissemination is a cost-effective solution to ensure broad use of the data. Extensive use of the data provides some protection against budget reductions to these statistical programs.

Confidentiality. One of the biggest challenges of microdata dissemination is to minimize the risk of disclosure of any data that would compromise the identity of respondents. “NSOs must maintain the trust of respondents if they are to continue to cooperate in their data collections. Confidentiality protection is the key element of that trust. If respondents believe or perceive that a NSO will not protect the confidentiality of their data, they are less likely to cooperate or provide accurate data.”

Legality. All countries have a specific national statistical and data protection legislation. The interpretation of legislations also varies considerably. The United Nations Fundamental Principles of Statistics provide a basis for many legislations.